Compound Murder

Formulaic, sufficient as to suffice for fans. Could have been subtitled, "The Death of the Picky Professor". Hack whines and continues to irritate; Rhodes wanders, ponders and resolves several crimes in a shootout where no one is seriously injured. Hooray for Ivy. Hopefully, the bright spark from the compound will find enough tinder to stay aligh

Synopsis: A professor is murdered on a college campus and the sheriff must find out if it was an accident or premeditated. A family in an impound, a wild pig, theft of copper wire, a salon break-in, a cussing water heater and a nosy reporter all add to the problems facing the folks in the county. Review: This is a nicely woven tale that brings the characters into and out of suspicion several times, leaving the reader wondering who the 'bad guys' really are.

When Sheriff Dan Rhodes investigates the death of a community college English professor, number one on the suspect list is a student, Ike Terrell, whom the teacher had accused of plagiarism. The young man is the son of Abel Terrell, a local survivalist who has barricaded himself in “the compound,” and is reputed to be armed to the teeth. Much of Rhodes’s investigation centers on the campus and he’s being “helped” by eccentric math professor C.P. “Seepy” Benton, a recent graduate of the Citizens’ Sheriff’s Academy. In fact, the entire book is populated by eccentric folks. Add to that a hero with a sense of humor and the series’ likability and durability go up. In Compound Murder, just about everyone the sheriff interviews is hiding something – although it’s tough for him to discern whether that something has to do with the case at hand. Bill Crider is one of the few authors both my husband and I like to read – and for that reason alone, this lighthearted, low-on-violence series is easy to recommend.